LIVING IN THE WORLD OF CHAMPIONS

While speaking to a friend a few days ago, he recounted his conversation with a very successful man in the country. He asked this great man a question, ‘Sir, what would it take a young man like me to achieve what you have achieved in a shorter period of time’. He smiled and replied, ‘If you want to be an elephant, start eating what elephants are eating’. After pondering over this statement for a while, I found this to be a great truth which we all must learn: If you want to be a champion, start doing what champions are doing.

THINK LIKE A CHAMPION

One of the greatest hallmarks of a champion is the way he thinks. He is absolutely in control of his thought life. He understands that thoughts are the most powerful influences in a man’s life. Whatever we think we can or we can’t, would eventually determine what we achieve and accomplish. While majority pursue external factors to determine what they can do or can’t do, the champion looks inward. The beauty of this is that there are no barriers in the world of imagination. The champion decides on what he wants and then begins to create amazing and pleasurable pictures of it in his mind. He faces fear, uncertainty, anxiety, nervousness and other emotions like every other person but he never allows them to stop him from achieving whatever he wants to achieve. He consciously accepts responsibility and keeps working until he wins.

PLAN LIKE A CHAMPION

Energy, enthusiasm, determination and diligence are all products of the amazing mental pictures that the champion has created about his future. Although thinking helps him to answer the question ‘what do I want to achieve?’, he engages planning to answer the question ‘how?’ The true champion is a strategist. He doesn’t work without a goal in mind. And with his goals he establishes a plan that will help him reach the goal. He works tirelessly on his plan until his goals are achieved. For more on effective planning you may refer to the July edition of CityHub.


FOCUS LIKE A CHAMPION

There are two Jacks that never succeed in life: Jack of All Trades and Jack of No Trade. Focus on nothing and you’ll achieve nothing. Focus on everything and you’ll still achieve nothing. But if you focus on one thing, you are on your way to becoming a champion. Champions focus on one dream, one vision, and one cause at a time. Common sense says ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ but focus says ‘put all your eggs in one basket and watch it with everything you’ve got’. The power of focus is one of the ultimate reasons for a champion’s success.


LEARN LIKE A CHAMPION

The champion’s food is knowledge and ideas. Their achievements are a direct function of the quality and quantity of information acquired through diligent study and search. They promptly apply new ideas they find to their circumstances. Champions never know enough to settle for status quo. They know that trends, circumstances and events are constantly changing. And changing with them are methods, approaches and strategies for achieving success in vital aspects of their lives. Therefore they humble themselves and submit to constant learning, corrections, improvements.

Haven’t you been around some folks who have this feeling of ‘I know everything and there is nothing new for me to learn’? Watch such people closely; any success they achieve is short-lived. Champions carry the mentality that they will never know enough. Even when they know quite a lot already, they still need to add what others know to what they know to stay relevant and maintain their top place. Therefore you must constantly unlearn old ways and habits, relearn new ones, apply them effectively to your present situation and keep improving on your current resourcefulness until your capacity level becomes formidable. That is how to remain a true champion.

LIVE LIKE A CHAMPION

There are two worlds you can choose to live in. The general world (where everybody lives and anything goes), and the champion’s world (where only champions live). The champion’s world is a world of possibilities, pleasure, productivity, rest, excitement, fun, fame, fulfilment and enormous wealth. But little do many realise that this good life was created by the champion himself from adventures, risks, rejections, mockery, losses and temporary pains faced in the general world. Everyone has his or her own fair share of challenges but what make champions soar is what they do with the challenges they face. For the average person, challenges are their excuse for failing. But for champions, the good life is too precious to be left at the mercy of conquerable challenges.

You have an amazing future before you. A future so big that if you could just dare to consistently think, plan, focus, learn and live like a champion, you’ll become unstoppable and success-bound. Start your journey into greatness today!

Ejiro Eboh
Author, Consultant and Conference speaker